The former US vice-president Dick Cheney, who died at the age of 84, was seen as arguably the most powerful occupants of the vice-presidency in American history. Although countless vice-presidents had to settle for peripheral or ceremonial positions, Cheney exercised substantial influence during the presidency of George W Bush, so much so that he was frequently referred to as the "true president".
Bush disliked this portrayal and said the dynamic was more complex. He observed that Cheney was deferential, always addressing him in public as President, while he referred to him as Dick. Bush questioned even portrayals of their association as a collaboration because it indicated that they were equals. In spite of these objections, Cheney considered the relaxed president accommodating on a whole raft of governmental choices.
A Period Following the Attacks
In charge of a contingent of conservative hawks that featured Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld and deputy defence secretary Paul Wolfowitz, he pushed hard for the military intervention of Iraq in 2003 in response to the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington. When of the 9/11 strike, Bush had been participating in a gathering at a school in Florida. While Bush traveled to a secret bunker in Nebraska, Cheney assumed control, commanding the shooting down of any unidentified planes approaching the Capitol building.
Cheney said the attacks transformed him, causing him to be focused on revenge. Together with other conservative figures, such as Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz, he lobbied for a takeover of Afghanistan in an endeavor to seize Osama bin Laden. Cheney then vigorously pushed for the armed intervention of Iraq, even though there was no evidence of Saddam Hussein playing a role.
Debated Decisions
He voiced no apologies about the military campaign, in which an reckoned 100,000 Iraqis lost their lives, nor about the waterboarding of suspects rounded up after 9/11. He informed CNN in 2015 that the Iraq invasion effort, which was founded on inaccurate reports circulated by Cheney, was the proper decision. "It was the correct action to do back then. I had faith back then and I maintain that stance today."
However even at the time, there were dissenting voices at a senior level about the poor management of Iraq. One of the administration's own delegates to the region, General Anthony Zinni (2001-03), was dismissed from the post. "I witnessed, at a minimum," he wrote later "obvious failure, negligence, and unaccountability: potentially, deception, incompetence, and corruption."
Wider Perspective
Cheney was not entirely responsible for the Iraq campaign. Prior to 9/11, Wolfowitz had called for similar measures. He had written a document outlining scenarios in which US concerns might be threatened (including "obtaining vital raw materials, mostly Persian Gulf oil"). Wolfowitz had contended that "the US should be prepared to take unilateral action when cooperative measures prove impossible," explicitly mentioning military moves against Iraq.
Bush additionally had arrived in the presidency generally inclined on executing what his father had famously refused to do in 1991; overthrow Saddam. Following he had been sacked by the president, the treasury secretary Paul O'Neill recounted how, at the opening session of the National Security Council in January 2001, Bush had stated his objective of diminishing America's involvement in the regional tensions and mooted defense operations against Iraq.
Bush bore a personal grudge against Saddam, thinking he had been behind a scheme to kill his parent, President George HW Bush, on a visit to Kuwait in 1993. He furthermore resented that one of the most prominent establishments in Baghdad had a surface artwork with a image of his predecessor's countenance that each person had to walk over.
Investigation Approaches
Yet it was Cheney who was part of the most outspoken advocating striking Iraq, repeatedly citing information documents that were either thin or entirely misleading. He endorsed what the Bush government indirectly described as "intensive questioning", the application of simulated drowning and torture.
Answering a Senate report in 2014 that concluded that no actionable intelligence had resulted from the interrogation methods, Cheney disregarded the report as "full of crap". He stated to Fox News: "We asked [the CIA] to establish protocols and create initiatives to capture the bastards who took the lives of 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure it would not recur. That is precisely what they did and they earn a lot of recognition."
Public Image
Cheney enjoyed monikers imposed on him by opponents such as Darth Vader and the sinister presence, and by the concept that he was a dark force directing Bush. In the journalist's 2013 book about the two, Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, Cheney is reported as stating: "Am I the evil genius in the shadows that remains unseen leave his lair? This represents a nice way to function, truthfully."
Commercial Ties
Dispute over his business interests pursued him during his tenure as second-in-command. Although he had little experience in business but good contacts in military, particularly in Saudi Arabia, he was invited to join Halliburton, one of the world's most substantial oil and gas corporations, in 1995 as chairman and CEO.
In 2000 he became Bush's VP candidate for the presidency. Debatably, during the military campaign, Halliburton was granted US agreements worth multiple billions.
It made him rich. His yearly compensation during his time at the firm increased from his quarter-million dollars while military head to over four million. When he left in 2000 he had a package valued at over $20m|twenty
